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Credits

Saint Patrick is said to have fasted for forty days on Croagh Patrick. It is from here that he is said to have banished a flock of evil black birds as well as the serpents of Ireland (a hollow to the north of the summit named Lugnademon commemorates this story). This explains its significance as a place of pilgrimage, though it was already sacred in pagan times, being a Lughnasa site [see MacNeill, 71-84]. Locally Croagh Patrick is called ‘The Reek’, a variant of the word ‘rick’ (i.e. a hayrick or haystack). ‘Cruach’ has the same meaning. In pagan times the mountain was known as Cruachán Aigle or Cruachán Garbrois. Garbros seems to be a place-name for the locality.
Croagh Patrick is the highest mountain in the Croagh Patrick area and the 66th highest in Ireland.Trackback: http://mountainviews.ie/summit/65/

Picture from Alaskan : Looking down the route from the middle of the scree section

Picture: Looking down the route from the middle of the scree section

Alaskan on Croagh Patrick, 2006

by Alaskan 15 Jul 2006

My wife and I climbed Croagh Patrick for the first time on a gorgeous day yesterday. We hiked up the Pilgrim's trail to see what it was like. The trail is very easy to follow but was also extremely eroded. There was a lot of loose rock, gravel and sand on the route which required more than a little concentration. The first leg up to the saddle wasn't too bad going up but was rather trecherous going down due to the ball-bearing effect of the gravel. The section between the saddle and the base of the summit was the only section where sight-seeing and walking could safely be done simultaneouslly. The upper section of the mountain is deeply eroded in scree and is the biggest challenge of the route. People wandered all over looking for the "best" way up and down. The less disturbed scree tended to be a little easier than the heavily used areas but the most deeply eroded section was actually the easiest for me because there were many bits of rock solidly embedded in the slope on which you could step. You just had to be careful of the sandy parts that were rather slippery. The descent was distinctly more nerve-racking for most of our fellow travellers. Being a social climb with many other people on the mountain, there was a lot of advice-giving and help for those who had difficulty. The summit was most unusual. I am not used to sitting in white plastic chairs on the porch of a chapel while eating lunch and soaking up the views. I had expected to be put off by the crowds (there were probably a few hundred others on the mountain that day) but it was really an enjoyable social event. Next time, though, I think I will climb it from the west. Trackback: http://mountainviews.ie/summit/65/comment/2425/